Asphalt holding tank gets green light
ZBA, planning board approve Peckham’s variance, site plan
The Daily Mail
Aug. 28, 2009

ATHENS — Peckham Asphalt Resale Corp. will erect a towering 1.265 million gallon liquid asphalt holding tank at its facility on Schoharie Turnpike beginning in the next six months to decrease product transportation costs, according to Peckham Industries Vice President Joseph Wildermuth.

The Athens Town Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board approved a height variance and Site Plan for the 48-foot tower, respectively, at a join meeting Thursday held at the Athens Municipal Building. The tower could be completed by March.

“We have been able to secure the rail supply and it has kept us viable and competitive within the asphalt market,” Wildermuth said. “This facility has actually worked out very, very well for us. It has actually met or exceeded what we expected from it.”

Wildermuth and Jim Wilcox, who runs the company’s construction division, explained that the tank will reduce the need for the asphalt, which gets unloaded at the Schoharie Turnpike facility, to be trucked for storage to a facility on Union Street in the Village of Athens. Trucks then bring the asphalt back to the Schoharie Turnpike facility when needed. Transportation costs $6 per ton, with 20,000 tons, or about 700 trips annually between the two facilities.

Asphalt deliveries to the facility by rail began in May. Before then, supplies arrived to the waterfront facility by barge. Only three barges have made deliveries via barge in the last nine months, Wildermuth said.

The facility has two existing 30-foot by 32-foot holding tanks. The new tank will have a 67-foot footprint on same 5-acre containment area. Wildermuth said a shorter tank with a larger footprint would be possible but would leave less usable space should another facility expansion be needed. He told the boards that another expansion would probably not be needed for five years.

“This tank is not going to increase our business, it is to prevent having to bring product back into the Village,” he said.

Wildermuth agreed to investigate removing a tower at Peckham’s Amos Post facility as per the Planning Board’s suggestion.